1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to transferring digital data, and more particularly to optically transferring digital data between a source and a mobile device.
2. Prior Art
Mobile telephony has rapidly grown since the introduction of the cell networks in the late twentieth century. As such, cell phones have technologically evolved rapidly from large single function devices solely for making and receiving telephone calls and starting in the early 1990's to smart phones that include multiple functions in addition to functioning as a telephone. A smart phone is a high-end mobile phone that offers more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary mobile phone having a primary purpose as a telephone. Smart phones combine the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone, and today's models typically also serve as portable media players and camera phones with high-resolution touch screens, GPS navigation, Wi-Fi connectivity and mobile broadband Internet access. Smartphones now make up an every growing and significant portion of all mobile phones.
Today's smart phones employ one of multiple available operating systems depending on the design of the device, and can function as the equivalent of small personal computers. With the incorporation of a dedicated operating system, the various developers also offer applications for hosting on the smart phones, tablet computers, and other portable electronic devices to perform various software functions depending on the desires and needs of the user. The available applications can be platform and developer specific or can be third-party applications that are executable using an application programming interface. While software applications for laptop or tower type computers are generally purchased on hard media, such as CD's or downloaded from an Internet website for installation on the computer, the small size and mobile nature of a smart phone, a tablet computer, and other portable electronic devices often precludes such means for obtaining and installing applications. Since a smart phone or other small smart devices have input capabilities that are limited or restricted to electronic transfer of files, such transfer must typically be accomplished over a subscriber network permitting the transfer of data files.
The dramatic increase in the demand for and the number of applications available for mobile electronic devices has driven the industry to develop alternate methods for a user to acquire data files or applications in lieu of utilizing hard media or through expensive subscriber networks. In the absence or unavailability of such subscriber networks, the introduction of applications or the transfer of data files to the smart phone becomes problematic. Therefore, a method for transferring digital files by other than an electronic subscriber network is needed.
A method of transferring data optically is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,571, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Downloading Information form a Controllable Light Source to a Portable Information Device,” issued to Jacobs et al. on Jan. 30, 1996 (herein referred to as the Jacobs patent). The Jacobs patent describes transferring binary data, serially, to an external device, equipped with a photo sensor. The proprietary device decodes the data using the raster scan of a CRT screen for timing. This method restricts the bandwidth of the data by limiting the stream to a serial transfer. This method is also limited to using a CRT screen, and not modern LED, LCD, and plasma monitors and televisions.
A method of transferring data optically, was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,281,820, entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Transferring Data from a Display Screen,” issued to Fields on Aug. 28, 2001 (herein referred to as the Fields patent). The Fields patent discloses a method of transferring data to a proprietary apparatus, equipped with a photo sensor, via a CRT or LCD. This method only transmits data serially to the photo sensor, and does not transmit data in a parallel method to a camera within a portable device.
A method of transferring data wirelessly, without being connected to a network, was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,382, entitled “Method of Information Transfer Using Optical Zones,” issued to Madden on Jul. 20, 2004 (herein referred to as the Madden patent). The Madden patent discloses a method of transferring data optically from a computer's monitor using optical line pulses within certain parallelogram shaped areas displayed on the monitor. The Madden patent also uses a proprietary external optical sensor connected to a portable device for receiving the data, and not a built-in camera. The Madden patent also transmits by illuminating two or three primary colors according to a specific sequence, and does not allow utilize native YUV to encode and transmit data.
A method of transferring data wirelessly, without being connected to a network, was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,798,445, entitled “System and Method for Optically Communicating Information Between a Display and a Camera,” issued to Brumitt on Sep. 28, 2004 (herein referred to as the Brumitt patent). The Brumitt patent discloses a method for transferring data optically from one PC to another PC. The Brumitt patent describes transferring characters via specific line patterns, and does not address transmitting other forms of binary data.
A method of transferring data wirelessly, without being connected to a network, was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,124,953, entitled “Visual Encoding of a Content Address to Facilitate Data Transfer in Digital Devices,” issued to Antilla et al. on Oct. 24, 2006 (herein referred to as the Antilla patent). The Antilla patent discloses a method of transferring a one frame, 2D barcode or QR code to another portable device for the sake of transferring a BLUETOOTH® address or URL to another device.
A method of transferring data wirelessly, without being connected to a network, was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,967,217, entitled “Information Reproduction/I/O Method Using Dot Pattern, Information Reproduction Device, Mobile Information I/O Device, and Electronic Toy,” issued to Yoshida on Jun. 28, 2011 (herein referred to as the Yoshida patent). The Yoshida patent is limited to transferring digital data via a monochrome dot pattern to an optical device. This method does not use color to transfer data to a CMOS a portable devices camera.
Accordingly, a need remains for a system, method and computer program product for optically transferring a digital data file from a computing system to a mobile device that overcomes at least one of the aforementioned shortcomings.